


like the waves meet the shore

by echoesofstardust



Category: Figure Skating RPF
Genre: Angst, F/M, Fantasy elements, Guys it's sad, I understand if you want to skip it because of recent events, Little Mermaid AU, Mermaids, One (1) oblivious prince, Sea-witches, This was mostly written before I found out
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-30
Updated: 2018-11-30
Packaged: 2019-09-02 21:21:22
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,321
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16794964
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/echoesofstardust/pseuds/echoesofstardust
Summary: If only their story had a happy ending,or, a prince of the land, a princess of the sea, and a love that was never enough.





	like the waves meet the shore

**Author's Note:**

> Hi guys, how are you all feeling? Given recent events that have happened, I hope you are all doing alright. 
> 
> So, this fic was mostly written by the time I'd heard news of what had happened. I should be working on my multi-chapter (sorry if you're still waiting on an update) but this idea gripped me and wouldn't let go. It's intentionally sad, and I fully understand if you'd much rather not read it.
> 
> Nevertheless, I wrote this fic for me, but I thought I'd share it with you lovely people anyway.
> 
> I was playing around with the fairytale style, so I mostly refrained from mentioning names in the narration. I apologise in advance for the confusion. Feel free to point it out in the comments and I'll rework that part of the fic.
> 
> Wishing you all lots of love. Make sure to take care of yourselves <3

This is how it ended. There’s a prince who awoke after his wedding night, expecting to see his faithful companion. The graceful, long-limbed girl with green, green eyes and no voice who he found on the beach. He kissed his wife on the forehead and opened the entrance to their wedding tent. He looked around the sleeping guests aboard the ship, searching for her.

He came across his brothers, who wickedly smirked, presumably to cajole him about his wedding night.

“Where’s Tessa?” he asked. Worry crept into his voice. His brothers dropped their joking manner and frowned. They didn’t know.

The prince kept on looking. In the servants’ quarters. In the kitchen. Scouring every inch of the deck. One of the servants mentioned that she had seen the girl standing at the bow of the ship, staring at the sea below. 

The prince’s heart dropped. She couldn’t have fallen and drowned, surely? Not Tessa, with the sweetest smile and kindest eyes. 

He began running. Asked each person he came across. All their answers were the same. Yes, they remembered her ethereal dancing from the night before. No, they had not seen her since.

“Where is she?” he cried, slumping at the bow of the ship. He pressed his hand to the ache in his chest.

***

This is what happened the night before. The prince married the princess he loved, who he thought had rescued him from the sea one stormy night.

Princes can be stupid. This prince is no exception. He had not realised that this princess, who was of the land, like him, was not the girl who had rescued him on the night his ship was destroyed. The girl who rescued him was the graceful, long-limbed girl with sea-green eyes and no voice who had left her kingdom deep in the sea to, perhaps, maybe, if the fates allow it, win the prince’s heart.

But he didn’t know that. And the girl from the sea didn’t have the voice or the heart to correct him.

***

Later on in the day, as the prince continued searching, one of his brothers had taken him aside. “Scott, you might want to stop looking so intensely for Tessa.”

The prince had looked affronted, “I can’t just stop—it’s Tessa! What if she’s injured?” _What if she’s dead?_

“Scott, no. I’m not saying stop looking. We’ll keep on looking. Just—“ his brother had rubbed his face with his hand, “you have a wife, Scott. She’s not gonna like you always going on about another girl. Especially not one who’s as close to you as Tessa was.”

“Is. Not was. Don’t talk about Tessa in the past tense.”

“Scott. Go see your wife. Just for a bit.”

“Why can’t I keep on looking for Tessa? My wife will be fine.”

“You didn’t marry Tessa, Scott.” And then his brother had walked away.

***

There was one night, as the sun was setting, where the princess of the sea stood at one of the palace balconies. It was the day the prince’s wedding was announced to the princess of the land who he thought rescued him.

One of the prince’s brothers found her there. They stood in silence for a while.

“So, you love my brother, huh.” He broke the silence first.

The princess of the sea turned her intent gaze towards him. She breathed out deeply. Then nodded. Her hands gripped harder on the balcony railing.

The prince’s brother spoke again, after a long silence, “Maybe he’ll see what’s in front of him.” He offered a smile to the girl, and patted her on the shoulder before walking away.

The girl rose on the tips of her toes as the sun set below the horizon, and felt the pains shooting up her legs. She remembered the price the sea-witch demanded of her with each throb.

She looked out at the sea, towards the gathering sea foam.

***

The prince obliged his brother’s request and paused his search to make time to see his wife. She was still resting in their wedding tent, although she was awake.

She studied him as he entered. She shifted as he sat down beside her.

“Where have you been?” she asked. She knew where he had been, although her voice was even, betraying no malice.

“Looking for Tessa.” He chose the honest path, “No one has seen her since last night.”

The prince’s wife admired her husband’s looks and respected his pure heart, but it puzzled her to see how blind he was. Perhaps a more jealous woman would resent the girl who accompanied her fiancé seemingly wherever he went. Especially a beautiful one who looked at him like he was her sun, her stars, her sky.

But he never looked at the girl in the same way. She reasoned he loved the girl, sure, a love like that of a sibling or a friend. They had known each other for years, according to one of the prince’s brothers.

Nevertheless, the prince did not love a girl who loved him, and it would be tragic if it wasn’t so common. The girl, silent and voiceless, looked at her sometimes, though no anger or jealousy marred her beauty. Their eyes met last night after the wedding. The girl gave her a small smile and inclined her head. The girl’s eyes moved towards the prince then met the prince’s wife again. The girl bowed her head.

The prince’s wife understood.

Now, looking at her husband, she wondered whether she was wrong in her judgment that the prince did not love the strange, celestial, quiet girl in the way the girl loved him.

She curled her hand, feeling the cool metal of the wedding band. No matter, it would be too late anyway.

“I’ll help you look for her.” The prince’s head snapped upwards, unblinking.

“Thank you.” The two syllables seemed surprised to leave the prince’s mouth.

***

There was a night, years ago, during the first time a ball was held after the prince found the princess of the sea. She was seated next to him. As the music started playing, the prince noticed her beginning to sway in time with the music.

“Would you like to dance?” he asked. He held out his hand.

She gazed at his outstretched hand for several beats. She took it. The pair rose from the table.

As they settled into a dance hold and began a simple waltz, her mouth broke into a small smile. The prince wondered what it would take to see that smile on her face every day.

As they danced, the princess of the sea remembered the sea-witch’s price for her legs. Shooting pains burned and gripped her calves and the soles of her feet with each step, pricking her like the tips of knives embedded in her skin.

The pain was bearable though as long as she danced in the prince’s arms. With each ball that was held, they became more comfortable and confident partners. Eventually, they began simple lifts as they twirled and spun. The princess of the sea savoured those few seconds above the ground, where no pain scorched her legs, yet she was still wrapped in the prince’s embrace.

***

All her belongings were still onboard the ship. Her dresses and gowns, her combs and hairpins, her books. Yet she seemed to have vanished into thin air, dissolved into the sea foam.

The prince walked through the ship again, sifting through each person like a sieve. He didn’t need to ask anymore as every servant and guest knew the question that he would ask. Whenever he met another pair of eyes, the person shook their head.

The prince wondered if the girl had wandered onshore. Although the wedding festivities had taken place onboard the ship, the ship was docked to the pier, allowing guests to retreat to the pristine beaches of the kingdom.

The prince remembered how the girl often stood in the ocean, ankle-deep, her hair whipping about her face, her eyes closed.

She only opened them when he reached over to take her hand.

The prince left the ship and jogged along the pier. He scanned the stretching shoreline for any sign of a dark-haired head to no avail.

***

He hadn't known her name when he had found her. He had quickly realised she was unable to speak but understood him.

“I’m Scott. What’s your name?”

She opened her mouth. She clutched her throat as no sound emerged. She frowned. After a few moments, she leaned down and traced in the sand. 

_T-E-S-S-A_.

“Tessa.” He tested it on his tongue. “That’s a beautiful name.”

To the princess of the sea, nothing had sounded as sweet as her name on his lips.

***

He dug his toes into the warm sand of the beach. The waves lazily lapped at the shore. To any other person, this place might seem like paradise. But to this prince, it seemed like a nightmare. With every hour that passed without any sign of the girl, the girl who seemed to come from the sea, his heart pounded that little bit faster.

He crouched down and balanced his elbows on his knees, bowing his head forward. His fingers interlaced as if in prayer.

“Tessa, where are you?” he whispered.

Only a seagull cawed in reply.

***

The prince had fallen in love once, and once only.

"It was a girl from the temple.” 

He and the princess from the sea were lying next to each other on a blanket on the beach. The sun was setting, setting the horizon ablaze with fiery reds and oranges. 

He continued. “She rescued me when I nearly drowned. I never told you this, did I, Tessa? A week before we found you, I was on one of the ships. A storm appeared out of nowhere and I thought we were all gonna die.”

The girl took his hand and squeezed. He turned his head to face her. Her gaze was solemn.

“No one died that night, luckily. But I nearly did. Everyone else made it to the boat as the ship was sinking but I hadn’t. I had handed over the cook’s youngest child when a wave swept me away.”

A shuddering breath escaped him. “I don’t remember anything much after that. Except for—for her. I remember waking up and seeing her golden hair, like a golden halo around her head, and eyes as blue as the sea.

The princess of the sea, with her dark tresses and deep green eyes, ignored the ache in her chest. The prince didn’t know it was she who had braved the raging storm to bring him onto the beach.

“There were other girls surrounding her, all of them serving the temple. But I only saw her. They left soon after they realised I was alive, although she stayed the longest. My brothers arrived soon after they all departed. I guess one of them must have somehow recognised who I was and found them.”

The prince turned on his side, propping his head on his elbow. “All the girls serving the temple belong to it. I will never see her again.”

He brought a hand up to the girl’s cheek. She placed her own on top of his, her hand curling around his fingers.

“If I—if I had to marry, would you let me ask for your hand, Tessa? Would you let me love you?”

She shifted her head to place a kiss on his palm.

***

On the morning of the wedding, the princess of the sea held the bridal train of the prince’s soon-to-be-wife. Music floated throughout the ceremony, voices overlapped in a loud cacophony, but the princess of the sea could hear nothing but the ringing pulse in her ears.

The sun shone brightly overhead. When it set later that evening, she knew what fate awaited her.

The identity of the prince’s wife was a cackling, cruel twist of fate. This princess of the land turned out to be the girl from the temple who the prince thought saved his life. The princess was sent there to be educated in all the virtues.

The prince’s parents had welcomed another royal family into their kingdom to discuss the possibility of greater ties through trade. Imagine the prince’s surprise when the princess of the other kingdom turned out to be the temple maiden who stole his heart and had yet to give it back.

Much happiness and laughter and merriment ensued, culminating in the planning of a royal wedding. The princess of the sea watched from behind a pillar in the ballroom. A single tear slid down her cheek.

***

The sun had set. The sky darkened. The prince’s brothers found him walking up and down the beach. His eyes were glazed one moment, frantic the next.

“Scott.”

“Where is she?” The prince fell to his knees. He covered his face with his hands. Burned on his eyelids was the image of a graceful, long-limbed girl with green, green eyes.

(They search for weeks. Throughout the kingdom. In every shop, in every house. Down every alley, nook and cranny. The prince never found her again.

Only a gravestone marks her place in the royal cemetery. The prince visits each year on the anniversary of the day they met, leaving a seashell from the beach.

His first child, a daughter, is named Tessa.)

***

This is how it began.

A ship. A storm. A prince. A princess. The shore.

A week later, the prince was walking along the beach at sunrise, still thinking of the girl who he thought rescued him.

He saw something ahead of him. He ran up to it.

It was a girl, clothed in nothing, with only her long, dark hair securing her modesty.

He crouched down, keeping his eyes trained on her head.

“Are you alright?” he asked.

The girl lifted her head. All he could see was green, gorgeous green.

**Author's Note:**

> come talk in the comments 
> 
> might get some bonus content


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